Appropriators moving away from Trump-level cuts to science agencies

The House Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill released today proposes an 18.2% cut to NASA science and a 20.7% cut to the National Science Foundation. The cuts are not as deep as those proposed in the president’s budget request. On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee will hold a subcommittee markup for the bill, which also covers the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The committee also plans to hold a subcommittee markup today for the Energy-Water funding bill for fiscal year 2026 and a full committee markup of the bill on Thursday. The bill proposes $8.4 billion for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, a 2% increase from the fiscal year 2025-enacted level. In comparison, the president’s budget request proposed a 14% cut to the Office of Science. Budget numbers for these agencies and more will be added to FYI’s Budget Tracker as they are released.

The Senate Appropriations Committee may revisit its own CJS bill this week after last week’s full committee markup, during which subcommittee Chair Jerry Moran (R-KS) said the bill would maintain science agency budgets near current levels, including a $9 billion budget for NSF and $24.9 billion for NASA that “protects key science missions.” It also would have made employees of NOAA’s National Weather Service “incapable of being furloughed and removed,” Moran said. The committee has not yet released the bill text. Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) postponed the vote on the bill after Democrats, along with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), inserted an amendment that would prevent the Trump administration from interfering with plans to move the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt, Maryland.

The committee rejected an amendment from Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) to restore grants at NSF that were terminated for reasons other than financial mismanagement. Moran said he “shares the desire to see the NSF have a bright future,” but worried the amendment was “overly broad” by requiring the reinstatement of grants terminated due to research fraud, malfeasance, or lack of scientific merit.

NIH to cap open-access fees

The National Institutes of Health announced last week that it will cap the amount it pays in open-access fees for NIH-funded research, starting in fiscal year 2026. Under the agency’s open access policy, established under the Biden administration and put into effect by the Trump administration on July 1, NIH-funded research must be made freely available immediately after publication. Some publishers have responded by charging fees to researchers for each open-access article, which the agency then covers, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said in an interview with conservative podcast host Charlie Kirk. Bhattacharya said charging for immediate open access while also collecting subscription fees from government agencies is “double-dipping.”

The agency did not specify the cap amount. The Department of Health and Human Services seemed to allude to the policy in a statement to Nature early this month, saying, “Science journals are ripping the American people off with exorbitant access fees and extra charges to publish research openly. HHS is working to develop policies that conserve taxpayer dollars and get Americans a better deal.” In the same statement, HHS retracted its earlier announcement that it would cancel its subscriptions to Springer Nature journals.

Trump rounds out picks to lead defense research

President Donald Trump has nominated James Mazol to be deputy head of research and engineering at the Department of Defense and James Caggy to be assistant secretary of defense for mission capabilities, according to DefenseScoop. Mazol previously served on the Republican staff of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and became the acting head of DOD research and engineering programs until the Senate confirmation of Emil Michael to the position in May. Caggy’s nomination rounds out Trump’s picks for the three main assistant secretaries under Michael, including Joseph Jewell to lead on S&T and Michael Dodd to lead on critical technologies. Dodd testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services late last month, and the committee has advanced his nomination for a full Senate vote, while Jewell is awaiting a nomination hearing.

Also on our radar

• Trump appointed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last week to be acting administrator of NASA following his withdrawal of Jared Isaacman’s nomination in May.
• Wells Griffith was confirmed last week as under secretary of energy, a position that oversaw energy technology demonstration and deployment programs under the Biden administration. Darío Gil has not yet been confirmed as under secretary of energy for science and innovation.
• The Supreme Court ruled last week that agency reductions in force are legal but left open the possibility for specific plans to be struck down in court.
• NOAA’s Climate and Global Change postdoctoral fellows were furloughed last week due to delayed funding.
• DOE and NSF announced they will no longer pursue the proposed Cosmic Microwave Background Stage Four (CMB-S4) project, despite it being identified as a top priority by U.S. particle physicists and astronomers.
• The House will hold a full committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday. The Senate version advanced out of committee last week.
• The House Science Committee will hold a hearing on innovation in weather forecasting on Wednesday.

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All events are Eastern Time unless otherwise noted. Listings do not imply endorsement. Events beyond this week are listed on our website.

Monday, July 7

Health Physics Society: Annual meeting (continues through Thursday)

IEEE: International Conference on Nanotechnology (continues through Wednesday)

National Academies: Committee on Education for Thriving in a Changing Climate, meeting two (continues through Tuesday)

National Academies: Computing Breakthroughs and Innovation Patterns committee meeting
3:00 - 5:00 pm

House: Subcommittee markup of the Energy-Water appropriations bill
6:00 pm, Appropriations Committee

Tuesday, July 8

House: Subcommittee markup of the Interior-Environment appropriations bill
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

House: Breaking China’s chokehold on critical mineral supply chains
10:00 am, Foreign Affairs Committee

House: Full committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act
10:00 am, Armed Services Committee

House: Antisemitism in higher education: Examining the role of faculty, funding, and ideology
10:15 am, Education and Workforce Committee

CHORUS: Is now the time for trust markers in scholarly publishing?
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

WSBR: Space nuclear panel
11:30 am - 1:30 pm

House: Subcommittee markup of the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill
12:00 pm, Appropriations Committee

National Academies: A Vision for the Manufacturing USA Program in 2030 and 2035 meeting
12:00 - 1:30 pm

NDIA: How to steal AI algorithms at the edge and protect them
1:00 - 2:00 pm

World Resources Institute: How will trade tariffs and supply chain policies impact the US power sector?
1:00 - 2:00 pm

National Academies: The future of drought in the United States committee meeting
1:30 - 4:00 pm

Joint Associations Group: Town hall on the FAIR model
3:00 pm

Senate: Voices of the vaccine injured
3:00 pm, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee

Wednesday, July 16

House: Protecting lives and property: Harnessing innovative technologies to enhance weather forecasting
10:00 am, Science Committee

House: US policy on investment security
10:00 am, Financial Services Committee

CSET: Rewiring the chip landscape: Trends and challenges in chipmaking equipment
12:00 - 1:00 pm

CSIS: Clean energy strategies conference
1:00 - 4:00 pm

National Academies: 2026 Mirzayan S&T Policy Graduate Fellowship info session
2:00 - 3:00 pm

ITIF: Geofencing AI chips: Evaluating “call home” mandates for semiconductor security
2:00 - 3:30 pm

Senate: Too big to prosecute?: Examining the AI industry’s mass ingestion of copyrighted works for AI training
2:30 pm, Judiciary Committee

Union of Concerned Scientists: Meeting the moment through climate litigation
4:00 - 5:00 pm

Thursday, July 17

National Academies: Inaugural public summit: Collaborative for advancing science teaching and learning in K-12 (continues Friday)

House: Full committee markup of the Energy-Water appropriations bill
10:00 am, Appropriations Committee

QED-C: Quantum technology showcase on Capitol Hill
11:00 am - 2:00 pm, Rayburn Foyer

National Academies: Nanotechnology R&D infrastructure: Then and now
1:00 - 3:00 pm

Friday, July 18

National Academies: On Being a Scientist Committee, meeting two
11:00 am - 5:00 pm

National Academies: A Vision for the Manufacturing USA Program in 2030 and 2035 meeting
2:00 - 3:30 pm

Monday, July 21

National Academies: Future directions for NSF’s advanced cyberinfrastructure, meeting eight
2:30 - 4:00 pm

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Deadlines indicated in parentheses. Newly added opportunities are marked with a diamond.

On July 7, the Trump administration extended the federal hiring freeze into the fall.

Job Openings

◆APS: Member advocacy specialist (ongoing)
◆Environmental Defense Fund: Senior climate scientist (ongoing)
◆PLOS: Associate editor, publication ethics (ongoing)
Information Technology Industry Council: Director of government affairs for trade, export controls, and cybersecurity (ongoing)
Amentum: Science advisor for DOE counterintelligence (ongoing)
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI): Legislative correspondent, energy, space, and science policy (ongoing)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA): Energy and environment staffer (ongoing)
ACS: Policy and regulation reporter, Chemical & Engineering News (ongoing)
RAND: Multiple AI policy and research positions (ongoing)
◆California Ocean Science Trust: Science policy fellow, ocean-based climate solutions (July 18)
◆DOD: Chemical biological weapons arms control treaty analyst (July 21)
AAAS: Engagement manager for SciLine (July 24)
◆Wisconsin Academy: Director of initiatives (Aug. 1)
◆National Academies: Mirzayan S&T policy graduate fellowship program (Aug. 20)
National Academies: Biotechnology regulatory fellowship program (Aug. 31)

Solicitations

NIH: RFI on the NIH artificial intelligence strategy (July 15)
National Academies: Assessing radiation exposure, health outcomes, and mitigation strategies for flight crewmembers: Call for experts (July 18)
NSF: RFI on key technology focus areas for the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (July 21)
◆National Academies: Assessing opportunities to advance coordination of Earth observations and data stewardship workshop: Call for experts (July 25)
DOE: RFI on the 2026 energy critical materials assessment (July 25)
FCC: RFC on satellite spectrum abundance proposed rule (July 28)
◆NOAA: RFI on transforming in situ global ocean observing systems through public-private partnerships (July 31)
National Academies: Call for applications for the US-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium 2026 (July 31)
BIS: RFC on national security and critical technology assessments of the US industrial base (Aug. 12)
NSF: RFC on SBIR/STTR pre-award information collection (Sept. 2)
NSF: RFC on Breakthrough Innovations Initiative application (Sept. 2)
◆National Academies: Call for applications for New Voices in Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (Sept. 3)
OSTP: RFI for the National Strategic Plan for Advanced Manufacturing (Sept. 30)

Know of an opportunity for scientists to engage in science policy? Email us at fyi@aip.org.

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News and views currently in circulation. Links do not imply endorsement.

White House

White House: Ending market distorting subsidies for unreliable, foreign‑controlled energy sources
Reuters: Trump executive order seeks end to wind and solar energy subsidies
New York Times: Trump wants to close the US chemical safety and hazard investigation board
E&E News: Trump has long politicized disasters. Now he’s on the other side

Congress

SpacePolicyOnline: Scientists rally support for NASA as appropriators begin markups
House Science Committee: Democrats demand answers from GSA on HUD takeover of NSF headquarters
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA): Statement on DOE failure to comply with basic spending transparency requirements as highlighted in new GAO report
House CCP Committee: China committee and bipartisan, bicameral leaders unite to stop CCP AI chip smuggling
E&E News: GOP sees chance to revive cut provisions in new megabill
Breaking Defense: Setting the record straight on how we protected defense spectrum in the 5G era (perspective by Sens. Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Mike Rounds (R-SD))
E&E News: Texas floods prompt new disaster reckoning in Congress
MIT Technology Review: Why the AI moratorium’s defeat may signal a new political era
Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA): 74 US Representatives warn Trump administration to halt potentially illegal mass firings of federal workers

Science, Society, and the Economy

Washington Post: These scientific advances were ‘Made in the USA.’ Will they continue? (perspective by Bruce Partridge)
Scientific American: Science makes the US a great nation (perspective by Paul Sutter)
Chronicle of Higher Education: US policy made America’s research engine the envy of the world. One president could end that (perspective by Karin Fischer)
NSB: Robert W. Conn to receive the National Science Board’s Vannevar Bush Award
Undark Magazine: Interview: How a hearing-loss grant got cut in the fight over DEI
The Geyser: NIH head — publishing is free! (perspective by Kent Anderson)

Education and Workforce

Wall Street Journal: America’s brain drain could become the world’s brain gain
Nature: Survey of US postdocs finds threefold increase in job losses
The Hechinger Report: Another Education Department delay: Release of NAEP science scores
Washington Post: Tech billionaire Trump adviser Marc Andreessen says universities will ‘pay the price’ for DEI
Physics Today: The Charm School: A summer research opportunity for women before REUs
Nature: Will algorithms choose your next lab colleague?
E&E News: ‘Textbook violation’: Dems call for return of EPA dissenters
E&E News: Interior implements Trump’s essay requirement in federal hiring
Scientific American: Attacks on higher education are attacks on all Americans (perspective by Matt Motta and Dominik Stecuła)
Chronicle of Higher Education: 100 years ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial discovered academic freedom
E&E News: Federal court declines to order immediate restoration of enviro data

Research Management

New York Times: Trump seeks to cut basic scientific research by roughly one-third, report shows
Issues in Science and Technology: It’s time for universities to redesign their 75-year-old contract (perspective by Michael Crow, William Dabars, and David Rosowsky)
Scholarly Kitchen: How the growth of Chinese research is bringing western publishing to breaking point (perspective by Christos Petrou)
Science: Should grant applicants judge competitors’ proposals? (perspective by Jeffrey Brainard)
Research Professional: Metascience’s challenge is to keep its big tent intact (perspective by Stephen Curry and James Wilsdon)
Nature: Scientists hide messages in papers to game AI peer review
NASA: Polar tourists give positive reviews to NASA citizen science in Antarctica

Labs and Facilities

NASA Watch: NASA is rethinking who will run JPL
FedScoop: Anthropic makes generative AI widely available at Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Idaho National Lab: Western states forge alliance with nation’s nuclear lab on advanced energy development

Computing and Communications

HPCwire: DOE awards 38M node-hours of computing time to support cutting-edge research
HPCwire: EU selects SUPREME consortium to scale up industrial production of superconducting quantum chips
Financial Times: EU pushes ahead with AI code of practice
Bloomberg: Secretary of state impostor used AI, signal to contact foreign officials
National Academies: Strategies for integrating AI into state and local government decision making: Rapid expert consultation (report)
Bloomberg: AI rules make comeback in states as US moratorium fails

Space

Politico: Over 2,000 senior staff set to leave NASA under agency push
Washington Post: Trump’s NASA budget could cede solar system to China, scientists warn
Planetary Society: Every living NASA science chief unites in opposition to unprecedented budget cuts
NASA Watch: Second budget cut rally at NASA Glenn
Astrobiology: NASA release of research opportunities in space and Earth science (ROSES)-2025
SpacePolicyOnline: Aerospace industry urges Congress not to kill TraCSS
GAO: In-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing: Benefits, challenges, and policy options (report)

Weather, Climate, and Environment

New York Times: Trump hires scientists who doubt the consensus on climate change
E&E News: Flood predictions could worsen when Trump’s cuts take hold
Wall Street Journal: Why America still can’t get disaster alerts right
Politico: Why Texas’ floods are a warning for the rest of the country
The Conversation: My city was one of hundreds expecting federal funds to help manage rising heat wave risk – then EPA terminated the grants (perspective by Brian Henning)
Ars Technica: Wildfires are challenging air quality monitoring infrastructure
E&E News: US carbon removal seen backsliding under Trump (report)
E&E News: GOP attorneys general seek to intervene in climate case against Trump
E&E News: EPA Administrator confronts furor over weather tampering, vows ‘total transparency’
New York Times: No, chemtrails are not real or causing floods, EPA says
American Nuclear Society: EPA administrator Lee Zeldin talks the future of nuclear

Energy

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Why the US must protect the independence of its nuclear regulator (perspective by Stephen Burns, Allison Macfarlane, and Richard Meserve)
E&E News: House defense bill leans heavily on nuclear energy
Special Competitive Studies Project: A conversation with DOE Fusion Energy Science Director JP Allain (video interview)
New York Times: Trump may not be done overhauling renewable energy

Defense

Inside Defense: Pentagon proposes sweeping overhaul of US missile defense policy in law
SpaceNews: Northrop Grumman stakes role in Golden Dome missile shield
GAO: Space operations: DOD is pursuing efforts to collaborate with allies and partners but needs to address key challenges (report)
New York Times: China surveys seabeds where naval rivals may one day clash
SpaceNews: China’s orbital maneuvers blur the line between peaceful and provocative
New York Times: In Canada’s northern outposts, rusting relics once guarded against nuclear war
The Equation: The Russell-Einstein manifesto: A call to avoid nuclear war resonates 70 years later
Breaking Defense: With demos to begin next year, DARPA’s COFFEE project brews potential leap for spectrum sharing

Biomedical

Science: NIH suspends dozens of pathogen studies over ‘gain-of-function’ concerns
CNN: World’s premier cancer institute faces crippling cuts and chaos
Science: NIH director is replacing his top outside advisory board
E&E News: Dentists are struggling to counter RFK Jr. on fluoride
NOTUS: HHS is quietly looking for two new vaccines
Chronicle of Higher Education: The scientists who got ghosted by the NIH
New York Times: RFK Jr. cancels meeting of key preventive health panel

International Affairs

Research Professional: China has tripled its research output in a decade, analysis finds
ITIF: Yes, we do want to be like China (perspective by Robert Atkinson)
Bloomberg: Chip firms in Malaysia pause investment plans on tariff angst
Breaking Defense: France and UK pledge new Storm Shadow missile orders, deepen nuclear cooperation
European Commission: Commission launches strategy to make Europe quantum leader by 2030
SpaceNews: A new approach to space diplomacy: Hard-hitting calculations outweigh foreign-policy considerations
Science|Business: Research community positive yet cautious over leaked FP10 proposal